Board Report ( SACHA Annual General Meeting - April 22, 2006)

Board Report - printable version  

Our Board of Directors consists of 5 elected members: Sheila Ward (Chair), Daryl Sedor (Vice-Chair), Diane Winford (Secretary), Emily Lattion (Treasurer), and most recently Saul Kniivila. Jeanette Whiston left the board in November after serving for 1½ years. The positions on the board are established each year at the organizational meeting after each AGM. We meet for seven regular board meetings a year as well as general meetings, a planning session, and other times as necessary.

Members of the Board of Directors serve as liaison to committees as well. Diane is liaison to Education Services Committee, Sheila to Personnel, Emily to Finance, Daryl to Goldeye. Some of our board members also sit on other committees because they like going to meetings.

You can see a detailed report of SACHA’s projects on the Year in Review sheet in your meeting package, and of the Board’s work on the SACHA website – go to the Members Page. Since our last AGM our primary focus has been reviewing and rewriting policies and job descriptions, as well as working with all staff and volunteers in setting priorities SACHA for the year. We’ve also been active in the co-op sector at conferences and in political action for new housing funding.

Here I’d like to highlight a couple of the items and expand on what the board does for SACHA’s members. As outlined in our By-laws, our primary role is governance, in other words we are not a ‘working’ board. In that role of governance we look at the macro side of SACHA. Our role is leadership, planning, and sound financial management - such as working on by-laws and policies, brainstorming ideas for the next year’s goals, and overseeing the budgeting processes.

Each year in late August or early September the Board participates with other active volunteers and staff in a Planning Session. We evaluate the past year or two, and set goals for the upcoming year. The priorities for 2006 are: to respond to the needs of the members, increase communication by raising visibility, participating in a co-op visit program, and working to increase member participation such as the number of delegates at meetings. We also are working to seek out young people to become actively involved in SACHA. Our staff and/or a committee have been working on all of these since the establishment of the goals. For example, we are encouraging lots of
people to come to these general meetings and actively seeking out young blood to run for the board.

An important item to point out here is that while we on the board are mandated to lead and oversee, we would have a difficult job if SACHA did not have the superb staff it has had for many years. It is truly a symbiotic relationship between the staff and the board. I would like to thank all my fellow board members and those two hard working staff, Joanne and Audrey, for a very enjoyable time as chair of the board for the past year. And at this time I would also like to thank everyone who has made my last four years on the board of SACHA a delight. I am taking a break now but will be keeping an eye on things!!

Respectfully submitted
Sheila Ward, Chair of the Board